Open The Search For The Yorishiro (Oldest Tree)

Saori Aikawa

Saori Aikawa

Well-Known Member
Messages
115
OOC First Name
Cole
Saori had resigned herself to this mission the day she had arrived at Hogwarts and seen the forest. There were legends in Shinto Mythology that spoke of elder trees, and their abilities to attract many spirits. She had been told that holding ceremonies could call Kami into the tree to manifest, and that it was beautiful and sacred. So with all the knowledge she had, a bit of rope with some paper affects, and her wand, the petite hufflepuff snuck out of the castle and onto the grounds.

Of course being in the forest at night was scary. Every little noise alerted Saori to the fact that maybe it was dubbed forbidden for a reason. Taking in deep steady breaths she lit the tip of her want - thankful she had waited for some spells before coming and doing this. Perhaps the oldest tree would be easy to spot. It would be tall, and wide, she assumed, hoisting the large rope on her shoulder a little better. As long as she didn't get caught by anyone... or anything... she would be fine. Right?
 
It wasn’t that Rowan wanted specifically to be breaking school rules by being out after curfew, or worse, being at the forest after curfew, but she was pretty sure she was the only Gryffindor in existence to have never gone to the Forbidden Forest and to be honest, she’d never be able to live with herself if she never went so she figured now was as good a tome as any! She was a little surprise on her journey though to see a light bobbing through the trees. Curious, she ended her lumos and quietly crept up to the trees to make sure she wasn’t about to be run into by a professor or a prefect of someone. She noted it appeared to be a student who hadn’t seen her yet because her wand was in her hand but she hadn’t relit her lumos yet. Nodding to herself she stepped suddenly out in front of the girl. “Hey!”​
 
It wasn't as if Saori was the bravest person in the world, but she'd like to think she wasn't horribly easy to startle. She would also be wrong. The dark haired girl was approached too quickly by a girl taller than her, and Saori jumped back, tripping over the root of the tree that was to her left. Thumping onto the ground, the heavy rope smack the ground next to her. Saori's wand was now lit a few feet away and she couldn't see the girl, she could only feel how sharp the rocks were, and the tears that came next were unstoppable. "I don't wanna get in trouble!" She wailed.
 
Ilija hated breaking the rules. What if he got in trouble and lost his house a lot of points? It wasn’t their fault if he did something bad. That being said, when he spotted one of the first years slip outside, he was nervous for her that she didn’t know where she was going and she may have gotten herself in a spot of trouble too. At least as a fourth year he knew his way round the castle and where they could and couldn’t go. He followed her quietly, trying not to get caught by anyone on patrol or by any professors, and trying to catch up with her before she went too far from his sight. Pulling his jacket round him tighter as the cool air hit him, he wandered down the lawn towards the trees he feared she was definitely walking into, speeding up a little in an attempt to stop her going to far. Taking his wand from his pocket, the Hufflepuff lit up the way, and was about to call out when someone else got there first. He looked across to see a girl from his class, and back as the first year started to cry. “Hey,” he called out quietly, wishing they’d all just go back to the castle, “We have to go back, come on,” he urged unconvincingly, hoping they’d just follow him back before they got caught. Wishful thinking really.
 
Did Rowan mean to scare the girl? Of course not! Was it hilarious? Hell yes! Rowan snorted with laughter and had to cover her face with her hands to hide behind as she laughed. She felt a bit bad about scarring the clear first year, but she never got to do that becuase she was always with Elsie who looked much more intimidating than she did. Of course to look at Rowan she was very princesslike, but she was a tough cookie too! She looked over at the boy who approached. She couldn’t remember his name, he was quiet. She shook her head and leaned down to offer a hand to the first year. “No way! If we go back now, they’ll catch us! We should just take the opportunity to check out the forest, I’m sure it’s not as dangerous as they say, I’ve never heard of anyone dying in there right? Now the lake? That’s dangerous!” She said, think of the memorial she’d seen for some Avie kid. ​
 
Saori wiped at her face, smudging it with dirt. "No I can't go back! i have to find the oldest tree here!" She spoke, scrambling for her wand on the forest floor, before finally getting a good hold of it and shining it at the two who were with her now. She grabbed up her heavy rope and stood. "You aren't prefects are you?" She asked, hoping she wasn't going to get detention.
 
Elio had been debating whether or not to join Rowan in the forest after she’d announced her desire to check it out. A few minutes after she’d departed, the fourth year had grabbed his own shoes and coat and headed out after her. They were after all only at Hogwarts for once so what was the harm in a little exploration? Once he managed to catch up with her though he realised she wasn’t alone. Perhaps there was some other kind of gathering going on, although not all parties looked at though they were enjoying themselves as one of the girls tripped over when she noticed Rowan, and Elio had to suppress a snigger when she seemed so nervous of getting caught. It wasn’t like losing house points would be particularly detrimental. “What are you all doing out here exactly?” He asked the others as he caught up with Rowan and shoved his hands in his coat pockets, the lights from their wands enough for him not to bother. He looked between the other students there and hoped something exciting was going down for a change. He’d been in the forest before so it wasn’t all that scary. The younger girl said something about a tree, and Elio looked around excitedly; if it was a really old tree, that means it would be big so it was probably a good one to climb!
 
Rowan shook her head at the younger girl. "Nope, I wish!" She thought for a moment. "Actually, no I don't or I'd have to take points off both of you and then myself, which I don't actually wanna do." She said grinning, turning to notice Elio approaching as she did so. He looked warm at least, unlike her dumb self wearing think stockings with out her robes. Idiot. "Elio!" She was mildly surprised he'd followed her, but it wasn't like she'd made her intent particularly quiet. Besides, probably all the Gryffindors had heard her. She was almost surprised there wasn't a prefect behind him. Rowan pointed to the small fry. "Not sure about her, but I've always been curious, can't be the only Gryffindor who's never been in the forest, I'm sure it's not that dangerous, right?" They wouldn't really put a perfectly accessible forest next to a school full of dumb kids right? She was allowed to say that, she was a dumb kid too. ​
 
Elsie wasn't a rule breaker, not really, she was a bit of a curious person though and with Agnes by her side she was feeling quite a bit bolder than normal. They'd made a plan to check out the Forest together during the Halloween Feast, but since then, Elsie had chickened out a couple of times. Now though, with some prompting, she was determined to at least stand at the edge and look in. Then she could say she'd been there and that would be that. As they got down there though, she was surprised to have seen her sister there, with other people, including two other boys from her class, the names of whom she wasn't quite sure on, though she was pretty sure the other Gryffindor boy was the one she continuously heard Rowan talking about. "Oh!" She looked at Agnes. "They're having a party, Agnes, and apparently, we've not been invited!" She complained.​

Alright guys, order from after Saori is as follows
Saori
Rowan
Ilija
Elio
Elsie
Agnes
Corey
Felicita
Artemisa =))

I will update this as we go!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
The last thing the Slytherin had expected to find this year was a friend, but here Agnes was spending more time with Elsie than she ever had ever before. It was a nice change not to have to keep looking out for Tyler too. She’d not seen much of him since the slug incident, but now she had a proper friend who seemed to actually care about her. After meeting up with Elsie they’d gone down to the forest as planned, secretly glad she wasn’t going by herself even though she was keen to go. She looked out and followed her friends sight to a few more students, frowning as she realised even Rowan was here. Didn’t she know they wanted to visit? “Well that’s just bloody rude,” she murmured, wondering what they were doing that was so secretive they couldn’t be told. By the looks of things none of them were prefects, so at least in theory they weren’t in trouble, yet.
 
As more and more older students appeared, Saori shrunk back in fear. What if they were trying to have a party, like the ones her parents warned her about. "Don't peer pressure me into anything guys! I just want to find a tree!" She whimpered, tears pooling on her round cheeks again. All Sai wanted was to find the tree and tie the horribly large rope around it, and pray. Then she could leave and know there was safety in the forest.
 
Corey had been planning to go to the Forbidden Forest since they had gotten to Hogwarts. Well, actually he and the Raven twins had been planning to go in for a while, they just hadn't been able to find the time to. Recently however, he had found the perfect occasion to do so. He had heard that one of his classmates was very focused on Japanese legends - which he was a bit well-versed at, so it was really only a matter of waiting for the opportunity to arise. He just didn't expect to be while he was actually just plainly sitting in the Common Room. Thankful that he hadn't replied to his parents yet so his father's owl was still waiting in his room, Corey wrote a quick note to Artemisa and Felicita to meet him in the outskirts of the Forest and then headed there himself. He just really didn't expect to find so many people when he got there. "So, what are we waiting for?" he asked his fellow Hufflepuff first year.​
 
Felicita had been reading her Herbology book when an owl landed on the window of the Ravenclaw girl's dormitory. Approaching it, Felicita peeked at to whom the letter was addressed and found one for her and her twin. Taking the one addressed to her, the owl left as quickly as it had come, presumably to Chia. Reading the note, Feli could only grin and change into warmer clothing before heading out of Ravenclaw tower and sneaking around the corridors and finally out to the Forbidden Forest. She couldn't believe they were finally doing it! The whole thing made Felicita absolutely giddy. What she didn't expect though was the number of students present. While it certainly made it harder to sneak around, there was also safety in numbers she supposed. They were going into supposed dangerous territory after all. "Wow, this is a lot of people," she whistled as she approached Corey and stood by his side. "Chia should be on her way by now," she whispered to the Hufflepuff boy.​
 
Artemisa had been deciding whether to sneak down to the Kitchens when an owl had arrived and settled itself on her desk. Looking at it, Artemisa decided that it was decidedly unfamiliar and therefore could not have been from home. Getting the letter - after which the owl promptly left - Misa was quite pleased to see that it had come from Corey. She was even more pleased to see the content that had been telling her to meet at the outskirts of the Forest and that Coco should be going there as well. It didn't take long for Misa to leave after that. Sneaking around from the Gryffindor Common Room all the way outside proved to be quite difficult though, and she was quite glad that she had the forethought to actually wear dark colors for easier camouflage. However, Misa was quite surprised at the number of people present. "Well, glad I'm invited to this party," the Gryffindor said with a grin as she stood beside her twin. "So, should we get this party started?" she said as she held her twin's hand and began to walk towards the forest. Oh this was going to be so fun and exciting!​
 
Ilija stared wide eyed as not one, not two, but six more students followed into the forest after the original trio. He recognised a couple, but now there were much too many people in the area for him to even consider himself brave enough to speak to every single one of them. Perhaps if he could get one of the louder students to do the taking for him, they could convince everyone to go back inside instead of chasing after this stupid tree. He started asking one of the boys from his class to help him, but the Gryffindor completely blanked him. Whether it was because he wasn’t loud enough or Elio didn’t care, he didn’t know, but the longer the students were staying outside the more likely it was that they’d all get into trouble. “It’s not a party,” he tried, his voice barely loud enough for even the closest person to hear him let alone everyone. Maybe it would have been better if he just backed away and got a professor instead.
 
The Gryffindor turned to grin at Rowan, helping her get the first year off the floor as she explained what they were doing. “Course not. They probably just say that so don’t get lost or something but we’re not stupid” Elio chuckled, walking slightly further in to see if he could find this tree. “Where is it then?” He asked the Hufflepuff, hoping they’d find it soon before he got distracted and climbed something else instead. He turned to face the bushes as he heard more movement, and smiled again as he realised their timing must have been perfect as a bunch more kids turned up to join them. “Oh man is this gonna be like some kind of sacricial tree ritual party thing?” He joked, hoping he hadn’t just offered himself up as wolf bait.
 
Saori looked around as people called this a party, or worse, a place for a sacrifice. The very petite puff stood on a raised rock and whisper-shouted. "Hey! Guys! Whoever wants to go do their own thing that is fine, but I need to find the oldest tree in the forest!" She spoke, trying to cut back sniffles. "It is important, to help to bring good fortune to the forest that I tie this rope around it. I can talk about the legend for days, but what is important is I find it before we are caught!" She insisted, hoping maybe one of the older students would jump in and agree with her so she had some guidance and protection.
 
Elsie was excited at the possibility of what was happening as more students showed up, one of them was a younger girl from her house, though she didn't know her since she was a first year. "What are we looking for then?" She asked the older Gryffindor, looking over at Agnes with a shrug. "I think we should all know that, we can keep an eye out better as a group." She added, now turning to look at the Hufflepuff from her classes, Ilija? "Oh, Ilija, hey you," She said, looking over at Rowan with a shake of her head. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. It was like the whole school was coming out tonight. She bent to whisper in Agnes' ear. "This is gonna be W I L D."\​

on second thought, forget the list =))
 
Caspian wasn't one for rules so it wasn't strange that he was out late night and didn't have Astronomy as an excuse, though if anyone asked that was why he was out. He had been about to head back to the dorm after exploring the castle when he spotted shadows making their way across the ground toward the forest from out the window. A streak of mischief came across him and he decided to make his way down to the main doors and out into the night air. The figures were no longer visible so he began to walk over to the forest. As he drew close he began to hear voices, something about a tree and finding the oldest one. "I'm guessing the oldest tree would be really deep in the forest, you know the part we're absolutely not supposed to wonder into..." Caspian looked around the strange group. "I miss a party invite?"
 
Lysander had already been hanging out inside the forest because of course he was. What better time to go on an adventure and see what kinds of magical creatures only came out at night? That, and to hopefully find a star-gazing centaur who could tell him his future. Tonight, the boy had gone alone, rather than with his sister for company. He hadn't been able to get a message to her in time but he wasn't too worried. He knew protego and stupefy now, so no matter what, he would be able to protect himself from anything.

The young Summers boy had begun to hack and slash his way through low-hanging branches with a toy sword he'd brought along, when a commotion nearby stopped him in his tracks. It didn't take him long to find a teary girl and a hundred other students all entering the forest. At this rate, they were going to scare off all of the creatures he was trying to find, or his future centaur friends. Rather than quietly listen and read the situation, Sander jumped up on a fallen log near to the group. He placed a hand on his hips and held his toy sword aloft in his most daring pose - his cloak fluttering only semi-impressively behind him - and pouted at those gathered. "Begone, thots!" He shouted, borrowing a term his muggle friends had taught him from The Internet.​
 
Olivia couldn't sleep and the common room held nothing to keep her amused until she drifted off so she found herself wondering about the castle and her auto pilot took her outside. The air was a nit nippy but she continued on anyway. As she made her way across the lawn she noticed a a couple of people over by the forest and in a flash they were gone. Perhaps they had gone deeper inside. Olivia looked around to see if there were any prefects or professors around. The cost was clear so she decided to check out what was going on. As she got closer to the forest and began to venture in she began to hear voices, quite a few voices none of which she recognised. Finally she came across the group and looked around them hoping for a face she knew, there wasn't one. "What is going on here?" She asked eying the gang suspiciously.
 
It had only been a matter of time really, before someone got word to him about his sisters being seen heading to the forest. Zennon was friends with a couple of people, Gryffindors of course and they'd managed to see Rowan, who hadn't really tried to hide it, head to the Forbidden Forest, followed by some boy that Zennon didn't know. The concerned brother that he was, Zennon took it upon himself in his fifteen year old wisdom to follow his sister down there and drag her back. Of course, once he got there he noticed that that it wasn't only one person, being his sister, but a whole other bunch of students as well. He wasn't quite sure what to do. "Uh, what's going on?" He asked, looking first at Rowan, and then Elsie, who he had been trying to avoid, then to Rowan's crush, a younger Slytherin and lost focus. There were so many people here!​
 
Saori frowned. Why did everyone come to the forest tonight? At the same time as her? What was happening. Perhaps she should just look on her own. "Anyone who wants to come, uhm follow me!" She said, attempting to sound like a fearless leader, but the tears in her eyes adn the quake in her voice did not suggest such. After all, she was 11, and most of the students were older than her. They could easily turn her in, and lose her points - but this was important.
 
Rowan glanced around at the more and more students who were showing up. It really was a party! She looked over at her sister as she appeared, with her friend Agnes before looking at Elio. She followed him a little deeper and snorted when he asked if they were going to do a sacrifice. "Ooh, I hope not, that wouldn't go down well for us I think, who would we sacrifice, I'm sure it should be the youngest!" She turned slightly then to grin mischievously a the Hufflepuff firstie. It was getting very crowded now and the little one stepped up onto a rock and addressed everyone, then another young one showed up, a play sword in his hands, which Rowan frowned at. It looked like he'd already been here before all of this started. "Whew, Elio, this place is getting C R O W D E D." She said, enunciating every letter in the word. "Back it up you guys, we're getting ready to jam!" She said, looking around. She kind of wanted to find this tree though.​
 
Corey watched as more students kept coming but merely shrugged. The more the merrier he supposed. The young Hufflepuff looked at the Japanese girl that was nearly in tears and decided that she needed some cheerful spirit. And so, without thinking much on it, he just grabbed Saori's hand and began to drag her with the Raven twins in tow as he held on to Feli's other hand. Besides, it was getting too crowded and noisy, with this large a crowd it was starting to look like it was better to split up anyways. "Don't mind them. Come on, let's go find you that tree you need," he said with a grin.​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top